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Saanich high school students compete in a world-renowned robotics competition

Each team built, coded a life-size robot for competitive field game at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre

High schools from all over the world – including Saanich’s Reynolds Secondary and Spectrum Community School – took part in a robotics competition Saturday (March 5) held by youth organization FIRST Robotics.

Each team was tasked with building and coding industrial-size robots for a challenging field game at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, all while working to promote STEM research in their local communities.

STEM research is an approach to learning where students apply science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to real-world concepts, said Ian Koscielski, executive director at FIRST Robotics.

“This is our biggest high school level program and there are a total of 22 teams here today – 15 from B.C., three from Alberta, three from Michigan and one from Turkey,” added Koscielski.

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Julianna Kwan, Reynolds Secondary student and team captain, said her team put together their robot in less than four days and they’re very happy about its performance and strength.

“I’ve learned so much just from looking at other robots and seeing what is possible – there are always such good teams here and it’s so great to see the diversity, not only in the robots but the people as well,” she said.

Qualifying teams competed with their robots for prestigious awards and a coveted spot at the FIRST Championship.

Participants and alumni are eligible to apply for more than $80 million in scholarships and access career discovery opportunities and connections.


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